It’s great that GSK and Novartis have gone outside to hire digital executives but they are already starting five steps back. The gap between awareness and a patient actually asking for, and receiving, a new Rx is a huge one. However, the good news is that pharma can improve its digital marketing, but a culture shift is definitely needed and don’t think for one minute that these new executives are going to have an easy time trying to change the mindset of “TV first”.

Finally, these new executives cannot go it alone. They are going to need to bring in people who have a great background in digital marketing which means that they are going to need to hire some pirates who can challenge the status quo. They will have to get past HR and hiring managers that may see digital as a “threat” to their budgets.

It can be done and frankly, if these people fail pharma has thrown in the towel to embrace new media and empowered patients.